(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor (TFT) array panel.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an LCD) is one of the most widely used flat panel displays. An LCD typically includes two panels provided with field-generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed therebetween. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer, which determines orientations of LC molecules in the LC layer for adjusting polarization of the incident light.
One popular type of LCD, is the vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD, which aligns LC molecules such that the long axes of the LC molecules are perpendicular to the panels in the absence of an electric field. Much attention has been focused on the VA mode LCD because of its high contrast ratio and wide reference viewing angle.
Wide viewing angle of the VA mode LCD can be achieved via cutouts in the field-generating electrodes and protrusions on the field-generating electrodes. The cutouts and the protrusions affect the tilt directions of the LC molecules, e.g., the tilt directions can be distributed into several directions such that the reference viewing angle is widened. However, lateral visibility may not be improved in comparison to front visibility.